What A Coincidence
by TheScarecrow'sCrow
Summary: Josie is sent back in time thanks to a mishap with Celebi, and she has to somehow find her way back with the help of Ash, Iris, Cilan and... Team Rocket? Well it's not everyday a twerp turns out to be your kid. How will Jessie and James take finding out about a kid they didn't know they'd have because they weren't even together... yet? Rocketshipping fluff.


Celebi was exhausted, and its feeble attempts to escape were becoming more and more pointless. It really should have found a place to hide and conserve its strength, but it was far too late to do that now, as the object of its fear was way too close to even consider stopping. It looked behind it and saw the human inching closer and closer in this mad race for freedom, and whilst distracted, Celebi flew straight into a tree, and fell to the ground.

"Celebi, calm down! The bad guys are gone! It's just me, Josie! Don't you remember me?" Celebi could barely make out the words, because after it had hit its head on the tree, everything seemed to slow down and become blurry.

"There you are! Celebi, can't you see that you are hurt? Wait, what have you done now? Celebi?!" Celebi proceeded to shut its eyes, and be lulled off to sleep by the sound of the girl's voice surrounding its senses.

Celebi had stopped, and Josie had finally caught up with it. For some reason, it had fled from her, even though she was the 'good guy' in this situation. Not to mention she had assisted in rescuing Celebi once before with her parents, when she was a little younger.

It had been just like every other call-out, more selfish people trying to take rare pokémon by force and sell them for outrageous sums of money. That is, a normal call-out until she found out the pokémon involved was the one and only Celebi. Josie had immediately jumped at the chance to help out, so she and her partner John had left the base swiftly and went to Celebi's aid.

Unfortunately, Josie had to leave John back at the scene so he could wrap up the case, give his statement and assist Officer Jenny with the arrest, but out of the corner of her eye, Josie had seen Celebi escape, obviously injured, and had given chase.

Now that she had finally caught up with it, Josie ran towards it shouting "Celebi, calm down! The bad guys are gone! It's just me, Josie! Don't you remember me?"

She pushed past the last of the foliage, and fell down to the ground next to Celebi.

"There you are! Celebi, can't you see that you are hurt? Wait, what have you done now? Celebi?!"

Josie panicked upon seeing Celebi's ill state. She quickly jostled off her bag and searched in her little emergency pack for an oran berry. She found one, and lifted it to Celebi's lips, and helped it to eat the berry.

Celebi's restless, pained face eased somewhat and Josie relaxed, then used her gloved hands to tighten her purple pig tails, which had loosened in the chase. Now all the excitement was over, she sat down next to Celebi, and allowed herself to catch her breath.

After sitting down for about ten minutes, she decided that she had to get Celebi to her parents, her mother was a Pokémon nurse so she could help Celebi far better than Josie could herself. She gently picked up Celebi, but then something peculiar happened.

Celebi started to glow, and Josie almost dropped it in fear, but held on tightly so as not to injure it further. Then, Josie started to feel a slight tugging sensation, and she began to feel dizzy. Not too long after, she abruptly lost conciousness and the two dissapeared from their position in the Unova region all together, leaving nothing except the disturbed twigs and leaves floating around in the air.

Ash, Cilan and Iris were walking through Lostlorn Forest for the day. Iris had told Ash all about the legends surrounding the place, about the supposed rare Pokémon you could catch, and Ash, being the kid he was, had immediately jumped at the opportunity to fill his Pokédex further.

So they had ended up taking a day trip to the forest, and as per usual, Ash was hungry. Again.

"Over there looks like a good spot to stop for lunch. What do you think, Pikachu?" Enthused Ash, addressing the yellow creature on his shoulder.

"Pika pi!" The Pokémon called, nodding its head as if in understanding.

"Ash, you think everywhere is a good place to eat... However I do agree that we should go have lunch over there. You aren't the only one who's hungry for a change!"

Ash perked up, and the three trainers made their way over to the clearing. When they got there, however, they noticed that there was something strange right in the middle of the expanse of grass.

"Look Cilan, is that a girl?" asked Iris.

"Why I do believe it is! We must go to her aid, she appears to have been through some sort of terrible ordeal!"

The three rushed over, and turned the girl over so they could see if she had any external injuries. Pikachu jumped down from Ash's shoulder and nuzzled against her shoulder. When they saw that she had no serious injuries, only a few minor cuts, they looked at her face to see if they recognised her. She had a heart-shaped face, with shockingly purple hair tied in two pigtails at either side of her head, and a small button nose. She appeared to be quite athletic, with a short thin build, and some muscle clingling to her upper arms and lower legs.

Then they inspected her clothing, and they were shocked to say the least. She was wearing black gloves and boots, with a little white skirt and black tights, topped off with a white t-shirt with a 'R' logo on it.

"She's a member of Team Rocket!" Ash exclaimed. Pikachu backed off somewhat, looking conflicted. An Axew suddenly appeared from the inside of Iris' mass of hair, obviously having been awoken by the sudden exclamation.

"Indeed she is." commented Cilan rather dryly.

Iris looked rather disgusted, then said, "I think we should just keep walking..."

Ash looked horrified, then scolded her, replying with, "You always say that I'm a kid, Iris. But right now you're the one acting childish. If we all want to achieve our dreams, surely the first step towards that is to never abandon people in need - even if they are Team Rocket members."

"Pika pika!" exclaimed Pikachu with a rather disappointed expression, or as disappointed as a small furry ball of sunshine could look .

Iris quickly blushed and looked rather ashamed of herself.

"For once, you're right Ash. I was just being selfish... Let's get her patched up."

Ash smiled appreciatively, knowing that that was the closest thing to an apology Iris could muster up, and turned back to the unfamiliar girl.

Cilan made a 'hmm' noise, which grabbed both the younger heroes' attention.

"What is it Cilan? Do you see something we don't?"

"Hmm... it's just that I have never seen that colour of Team Rocket logo before."

Sure enough, the logo was two-toned, with a diagonal line from the bottom left corner of the 'R' to the top right corner, splitting the two colours of lavender and magenta.

"You're right!" Ash commented, lifting up his official Pokémon League hat, and resettling it on his head to hide his scruffy black hair.  
"Team Rocket has followed me in every region I have been to, and I have yet to see that colour of logo."

Pikachu seemed to agree, nodding enthusiastically.

"Well... she looks quite young. Perhaps it's a relatively new thing? Or to show she's only in training?" suggested Iris.

"Interesting theory Iris. Maybe Team Rocket are hiring younger, fitter recruits. If that's the case, and this girl turns out to be hostile, we better stay on our toes!" contemplated Cilan.

"Cilan." Iris grabbed his attention.

"Yes Iris?"

"If you start to make the lunch, then Ash and I can begin to attend to her wounds. That way we can be twice as productive!"

"Good idea Iris! I'll get started right away! It is the duty of a connoisseur to make sure that every one is tended to, even the ill!" and with a rather dramatic flourish of his hands, Cilan sped off to get started on the sandwiches.

Ash was eating one of Cilan's sensational sandwiches, quenching his hunger ever so slightly. But he had to give up one of his delicious sandwiches, incase the mysterious Rocket member was hungry when she woke up, so he was left wanting more food.

All thoughts of hunger were immediately abandoned, when he could see the girl start to rouse from her slumber.

"Hey guys! The girl's waking up!"

Cilan and Iris looked up from their lunch, and rushed over to see if they needed to offer their help.

The girl's eye's started to flicker, then they flew open, revealing vibrant green irises.

All that Josie could see was the dark. She'd never really liked the dark, and expected had that when she got older she would grow out of the fear, but that hadn't happened. And here she was, trapped by darkness' pointy, vengeful hands, trapped alongside all the other creatures which lived there.

But then she saw the dim light of conciousness, and ran towards it, stretching out her arms to reach for the shreds of light that tried to escape her grasp, then she was free.

Her eyes burst open, and she was back. Back in the real world. At that time, she would have stared into the sun if she hadn't been distracted. She would have stared into the sun just to keep away the dark. But she had been distracted. There were three faces leaning over her, all with a mix of questioning and worried looks.

There was an older boy, around her age, with pale green hair, pastel green eyes and fair skin. Next to him was a younger girl, with caramel skin, deep purple hair larger than her whole body put together, with a little Axew poking its head out from within it. To the far right was a slightly tanned boy, with a cap covering black, choppy hair, and dark brown eyes. He had a rather inquisitive Pikachu sitting upon his shoulders, sniffing the air.

Josie sat up abruptly in confusion, but then regretted it when her head started to spin.

"Now, now, not so fast. It seems that you have fainted, and you're only just now waking up. My name's Cilan." said the boy with the green hair.

"This is Iris," he said whilst pointing at the younger girl, "and this is Ash." he said, gesturing to the boy.

"We found you lying here in the middle of this clearing. Do you remember how you got here?"

Josie stared at them individually for about half a minute, then she introduced herself.

"Hello. My name is Josie, it's a pleasure to meet you. And yes, I know how I got here. I was on a special mission."

This made the faces of the three strangers become slightly disheartened.

"So that means that you must be a member of Team Rocket. Well Miss, we are definitely willing to help you with you injuries and such, but we shall only agree to this on the condition that you please not attempt to steal our Pokémon."

At this, the Axew said, "Ax, Axew!" with a look of self-importantance.

Josie was incredibly confused by several things, and she voiced her concerns to the three.

"Excuse me, but what possible motive could I have for wanting to steal your Pokémon?! And I have never been called a member of 'Team Rocket'. No one in my agency has been called that for about fifteen years! I shall have you know that I am a proud member of Team Rescue!"

The three strangers looked at each other, then looked back slightly sceptically.

Josie stood up carefully, then started to pace, albeit with a slight wobble in her step.

"I was on a mission. Some bandits were trying to steal a very rare Pokémon. Celebi." The three other people, including their Pokémon, gasped.

"I managed to defeat them with my partner, John, and he stayed back to arrest them whilst I went to help the Celebi. When I found it, it was in a bad way, so I gave it an oran berry. Then, it started to glow, and everything went..."Josie flinched, "Dark."

"That certainly is a grand tale!" commented Cilan.

"I think I know what has happened!"

"And what do you think that is Cyland?"

"It's Cilan, not Cyland. And Miss, I believe you have been sent through time."

Josie thought about this long and hard. It certainly did make sense. That would mean she would have to find Celebi to sent her back... or forward, to the right time period. Josie looked back at the three strangers, then she caught the eyes of the boy with the Pikachu... now that she looked at him closely, she realised that she somehow recognised him, but she just couldn't place him.

"Excuse me, did you say your name was... Ash? What is your second name?"

"Oh. Well my name is Ash Ketchum, and this is my best friend Pikachu."

Josie suddenly realised who this was! This was thee Ash Ketchum! That must mean that she had went back in time, not forward!

"You! You are Ash Ketchum! In my day and age you are so much older!"

"R-Really? How do you know me?"

"Everyone knows who Ash Ketchum is. He became the youngest Pokémon Master, then left behind that life to become a Pokémon professor. Professor Ash."

And then she turned away from Ash leaving him stunned, and turned to Iris, imagining her to be about twenty years older. It couldn't be!

"Wait a minute. I think I recognise you too! You are Iris, the Unova Pokémon League champion who specialises in dragon types!"

Iris' eyes lit up, and Axew copied her facial expression, as Josie turned towards Cilan, once again imagining him to be older.

"And aren't you the most famous of the Striaton Brothers?! I'm sure of it! You were all gym leaders, and the brother who had a Pansage left his home town to go on a journey, and became the best Pokémon connoisseur!"

By the end of her revelations, all three of the heroes were grinning dreamily.

"I suppose that could be us." said Cilan gesturing to all three of them.

"Well that is perfect! You can help me find Celebi! I need to find it so I can go back to my own timeline, not to mention that the last time I saw Celebi it was injured. It certainly won't be able to time travel until it has healed."

"Well of course we shall help you. But we must rest for the night though, so you can regain some energy and we can all be bright and ready for tomorrow."

"I can agree to that sir."

"Please, call me Cilan."

Josie laughed a bit at this, and said, "Yes, well it's just so confusing because in my day and age you are about twenty years older than me!"

Everyone burst into laughter, even the Pokémon, but afterwards everyone decided to go to sleep so that they could get up early the next day to find Celebi.

Josie was the first to wake up, and the next was Iris. When Iris saw that Josie was awake, she went over to see if she was feeling better, with Axew still sleeping in her hair.

"Why yes Iris, I am feeling just fine this morning, thank you for asking. I have already completed my morning stretches, so I am more than prepared to go out and find Celebi!"

"That's great to hear Josie!" replied Iris with a new-found enthusiasm.

"Yes... it is definitely going to be a wonderful day today, you can just tell by the singing of all the bird Pokémon!"

Thereafter, they sat in silence until the boys woke up. Well, that is until Cilan woke up and Pikachu had to wake Ash up. It could have been described as a 'shock to the system', but after he was awake, all Ash wanted to do was eat breakfast.

Cilan, being the conservative cook that he was, brought out some of yesterday's sandwiches, and everyone enjoyed the delicious food once more.

Then, they packed up camp, and made a start to find Celebi.

"So Josie," said Ash to get her attention, "Do you have any Pokémon?"

"Yes I do Ash, I have several Pokémon, but I usually tend to carry just one around at a time. The one I have with me just now is called Cleo, but all she does is sleep unless I really need her to battle."

"Ah I see... So what happened to Team Rocket? How did they become good?"

"Yes Ash, I meant to ask Josie about how Team Rocket reformed as well. Would you please tell us?" asked Cilan. Iris also turned to listen attentively as they walked through the forest.

"Of course, I'd be glad to tell you about the formation of Team Rescue!" exclaimed Josie with an air of excitement.

"It all started when, in what should be a few years for you, if I have calculated correctly, Team Rocket's operations appeared to be getting fewer and further in between. It turned out that they were slowly going bankrupt, and two of its original members broke off from the group because they were tired of taking orders, and in their hearts they wanted to help Pokémon! So they decided to create Team Rescue." Josie giggled, "And it just so happens that the two founding members of Team Rescue are my parents!"

"Woah Josie, that's so cool! I guess you get to help out with all the missions to help Pokémon and stuff?" asked Ash, clearly interested in this topic.

"Yes I do! Infact I can still remember when I went to save Celebi for the first time with my parents."

"Really? You have met Celebi more than once?!" Asked Iris in wonder.

"Indeed Iris! When I was nine, my parents took me out to my first rescue. To help Celebi! It was a similar set of circumstances to the last, just more Pokémon bandits trying to make a name for themselves, but as per usual their wicked schemes were thwarted!" Josie smiled, staring off into the distance, reminiscing.

"Gee Josie, your life must be full of excitement!" said Iris jovially.

"Oh, it always is!"

It was then, that Ash's Pikachu was swept up in some kind of net made of a strange metal. Loud, dramatic music began to play, then two people and a Meowth appeared from nowhere and jumped onto the path, singing a motto.

"Prepare for trouble!"

"Make it double!"

"To protect the world from devastation."

"To unite all people's within our nation."

"To denounce the evils of truth and love."

"To extend out reach to the stars above."

"Jessie!" shouted the woman with magenta hair.

"James!" the man with the blue-lavender hair said in a monotonous voice.

"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now, or prepare to fight!"

"Meowth, that's right!" concluded the cat-like Pokémon.

The woman laughed heartily, then addressed Ash, "Don't even bother trying anything twerp! There's no point! Our net is Pikachu-proof!" and sure enough, Pikachu attempted to use thunderbolt on the net, and it had no effect.

James surveyed their little group with a smirk on his face, holding a rose to his nose.

"I see you have been recruiting twerps infac-" before James could finish, Meowth interrupted him.

"Ehh wait a minute. Isn't der som'fin familiah 'bout dat unifoim?!"

"You're right Meowth! She's wearing a Rocket uniform!" exclaimed Jessie.

"What's your name, fellow Rocketer?!" Shouted James with goofy grin on his face.

In all honesty, Josie had been staring at the scene with a gaping mouth, attempting to process the information.

"...Well," Josie took out her Pokéball, and stared at it for about twenty seconds, then threw it up into the air, "Let me explain this by introducing you to me Pokémon, Cleopatra."

The ball fell on the ground, and everyone stared at it intently. Suddenly, the ball shined bright red, and a Pokémon came out.

It was a Meowth. A female Meowth. She was lying on the floor, sleeping. Everyone continued to stare, trying to understand the situation.

"Get up Cleo! If I'm going to be thoroughly embarrassed, so are you!"

Everyone's expressions turned to ones of confusion, and they continued to stare at the Pokémon. The female Meowth roused from its slumber and stretched. Then, it looked straight towards Josie.

"What'd you do dat for? Ah was havin' a cat nap!" said Cleo. Everyone gasped, and the female Meowth almost jumped out of its fur with fright.

"I mean... meowth..." Cleo tried to backtrack.

Jessie was completely fascinated, "You have a talking Meowth too! What a coincidence!"

Jessie and James' Meowth just stared, completely confused with the whole situation.

Josie turned towards the Team Rocket members, and addressed them, "Actually, it's not that much of a coincidence. I'm from twenty years in the future. I was brought here by Celebi."

The Rocket members gasped, then James asked, "You know where Celebi is?"

Josie's brow furrowed, "Really, that's the only thing in that sentence which you picked up on? Not that I'm from twenty years in the future?"

"Pred'y much" said Meowth.

"Oh no you don't understand," said Josie, rubbing her temples with her hands, "This Meowth, my Meowth, is the offspring of your Meowth."

The Rocket members stared with blank faces for about ten seconds, then Jessie and James burst into laughter, and their Meowth acquired an incredibly shocked and disbelieving look.

"No way man dat can't be!" he exclaimed.

"Tanks for basically dis'oh'nin' me dad. And how da heck are we in da past, Josie? You got some explainin' at be doin'!" said the female Meowth with a rather frantic tone. Josie just gave her an expression that said 'Not now!', then she turned back to the laughing Rockets.

After Jessie and James had calmed down, Josie addressed them once again.

"Well I can tell you, if you two found that funny, then you're in for a treat now."

"Oh? How so little girl?" asked James, wiping away the tears of laughter.

"Well. How do I break this to you gently..."

"Come on twerp! Spit it out!" Shouted Jessie.

"Well... Oh here it goes. Hello mum. Hey dad." Josie said, waving towards the Rocket members.

The reaction was not immediate. As expected, they stared in silence, and this time Meowth burst out into laughter. Ash, cilan and Iris had been in the process of saving Pikachu whilst the Rockets were distracted, and had just succeeded when they heard this news. The also burst out into laughter, even their Pokémon.

Jessie and James went the reddest a human could possibly go in the face, and slowly turned towards eachother. Just as their eyes met, they looked away immediately.

Josie hid a secret smile at the discomfort she had caused them, and walked over to the Rocket members, standing in front of them.

"Hello ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you, my parents. Now that the 'hilarity' is over, can we get back to searching for Celebi, and I can go back to my correct time, so that my parents can remember this moment and ground me for the rest of my life."

Jessie was ready to bolt. She was completely unable to process the information she was presented with. Her and James! No way!

He's far too dense, far too stupid and far too dumb.

Jessie panicked when she realised that technically all her reasons were the exact same, but she put that out of her mind, and looked at the little girl that had caused all this chaos.

The more she stared, the more she realised that the girl was not lying. She had the same face shape as her... Mum... And she had her dad's eyes. James's eyes. The deep vibrant green which she had occasionally found herself lost in, unintentionally of course. Eyes like that should come with a warning! Eyes like that could captivate anyone. Wait... Am I captivated?!

James' mind was reeling. Jessie! Jessie his fellow team member!

There was no way that was going to happen. It was bad enough being her partner. She was so bossy, imagine being married to her! He couldn't.

He snuck a look at Jessie, and she wasn't wearing her Uniform. Instead she was wearing a gorgeous bridal gown, which clung in all the right places, with her hair flowing round her shoulders for a change. She smiled at him so timidly, clutching to a beautiful bouquet, and he almost melted from the sight.

He shook his head, and looked back at her. Jessie was not looking at him, but somewhat scowling in confusion at the ground.

Okay, maybe he could imagine being married to her. Just this once.

In the end, Team Rocket, Ash, Cilan and Iris had all called a truce to help find Celebi.

Josie walked next to her parents, and whenever she attempted to make eye contact, they looked away. They couldn't even look at eachother because they were too embarrassed.

Cleo and Meowth were walking behind everyone, and they seemed to be having a normal conversation. Why were Josie's parents being so awkward with her? Oh. It must have been because they weren't even together yet... Oops.

"Mum. Dad." Both of the Rockets looked away but shakely said "Yes?"

"Uh, would you possibly like to acknowledge my existence?"

Again, both the Rockets seemed to be in a state of great discomfort, Jessie rubbing frantically at her neck and James pulling at his shirt collar.

"Well... it's just rather bizarre... you don't understa-" James began, but was interrupted by Jessie.

"Yes... this is very strange for us..." Jessie's eyes shone briefly with a bit of amusement, before returning to her previous expression, a stoney face. "...Twerp."

Josie giggled, and looked up at Jessie with a wide grin, which completely unsettled the woman, and caused her to look away. Josie looked a bit upset, but then continued walking. She could sense a pair of eyes on her, so she looked up to see James 'discretely' looking at her from out the corner of his eye. He swiftly looked away, and started to whistle nonchalantly.

"...Did you want something?" she asked him.

"Oh no not really! I have no idea what you are on about." he replied immediately, pretending to have not even looked in her direction in the first place.

Jessie suddenly smiled with a look of realisation, and turned towards Josie.

"So you say you are from the future?"

Josie looks slightly perturbed, but answers her mother regardless of her manic eyes.

"...Well I would have to be if I'm your kid, right mum?"

Jessie flinches, but continues, "Uh, yes. Yes, but that's not the point! If you're from the future, than means you can tell us when we finally get Pikachu! You could tell us the scheme that succeeded, and we can use it in our next attempt to get that furry yellow rat! The process will be sped up, and we'll become the boss' favourite now instead of later!"

Josie looks uncomfortable by her mother's attitude towards stealing Pokémon. She looks over to James, who had been listening in to the conversation. He was nodding vigorously, with his hands on Jessie's shoulders. When both the Rockets became aware of their close proximity, James quickly dropped his hands, then awkwardly crossed them, whilst Jessie did something very similar to falling over during a game of limbo.

Josie giggled at her parents, and they scowled at her, acting just as childish as their kid was.

"Well mum, quite frankly, it never happens. You never get Pikachu. Ever."

Jessie and James' scowls deepened, and Jessie looked as though she was about to burst into a rampage, so Josie spoke up quickly.

"You get something far better!"

They perked up immediately, Jessie with a dreamy look in her eye, James hugging himself in a strange manner with a goofy smile on his face.

"Oh, oh! Let me guess! A dragonite!"

"Maybe a Mew... or even a Lugia!"

Josie furrows her brow.

"No, no, nothing like that! When I say you got something better, I meant family! Family is so much more important than legendary Pokémon."

Jessie and James fell to the ground with looks of disappointment.

"Oh yeah... Sounds like a blast..." The magenta haired Rocket said, her voice laced with sarcasm.

Josie, oblivious to their unhappy reaction, jumped up and down with excitement.

"I knew you would agree mum!" she reaches out with her arms, and hugs Jessie around her shoulders. Jessie initially has a look of panic, and she lifts her hands up in a 'What the hell do I do?!' motion, but eventually she ends up tentatively returning the hug, with a smile slowly spreading across her face. She was quite a cute little girl after all. What was she saying?! Currently this 'little girl' was only a few years younger than her!  
Jessie just stared at the top of the girls head, lost in thought.

James watched the whole bizarre scene with a curious fascination. He slowly approached them, so that he could get a better view of Jessie's facial expression, so he could gauge her reaction. It was during this, that a hand reached out and grabbed him, pulling him towards the hug. Suddenly, his arms enveloped the two woman, as he was forced into an awkward three person hug.

He looked down to see who had dragged him into this situation. It had been the girl. Josie. James stared in disbelief. He had to keep an eye out for her, she was a devious little minx! Dragging him into awkward situations!

They stood like that for about a minute, before a snigger was heard. Jessie and James looked over to realise the noise had came from the twerps. And Josie.

How had she wriggled free from their embrace and gotten over there without either of them noticing?!

Wait. That meant...

Jessie and James simultaneously looked up, to realise they were in a tight embrace, very much alone. It had been bad enough when there had been three people in that hug!

James stammered out an apology, but he didn't let go. He couldn't tell if it was because he didn't want to, or if his body had genuinely froze in that position from the fear of Jessie's wrath. She could be quite terrifying when she wanted to be, especially when she had a blank expression, with her face slowly turning red. Was it embarrassment or anger?! Pokégod help him.

Any second she'll slug him in the jaw... But until then he'll just stare at her lips. He never noticed how red they were before.

Jessie was dying of embarrassment. Why wasn't that stupid man letting her go? Okay. Okay the twerps were staring and judging. That girl. Josie was grinning with self satisfaction. She'd seen that expression in the mirror before. Hah.

Well if she had ever doubted it for a second, that attitude and the sly move she had just pulled erased any doubt that she wasn't Jessie's daughter.

Speaking of pulling moves, why was James still holding her? Wasn't her afraid of her?

She turned towards him, ignoring the twerps and Meowth's prying gaze. He was staring at her, with what looked like a mix of fear, and something else. Wait a second... Just where is he staring?! Hmm, at her lips. She always knew James was a weird guy, but seriously.

Josie, and the others watched them, trying to comprehend what was happening. They looked very strange hugging like that. Ash, Iris and Cilan had seen them hugging before, but usually they clung to each other for their lives, as they blasted off... Again. Not as though they had a thing for each other. The two Rockets may not be able to see it themselves, but the three young heroes couldn't believe they hadn't seen it sooner.

After several moments of no movement, Jessie struggled her hand free and tentatively patted James on the head. His worried face turned into a goofy smile, and Jessie's strained grin changed into a sincere one. They backed away from one another, and went to the back of the group, which had just started walking again.

Josie and Cilan were in the lead, as the green-haired boy described the finer points of being a Pokémon Connoisseur to the Team Rescue member. Iris and Ash were behind them walking side by side, too busy talking to their Pokémon to talk to each other. Next was Meowth and Cleo, who appeared to still be engrossed in a strange hushed discussion, but the other Rockets didn't really seem to notice.

In fact Jessie and James were far too busy to notice much of anything else. They were conflicted. The news they received had been shocking to say the least, but it was as though they were finally starting to comprehend it.

James started swinging his arms a bit further than necessary, then he stated swinging them in a circular motion. He continued to do this for about a minute, with no one else noticing.

No one else noticing, that is, until he swung his arm particularly far, and his fingers brushed against the side of Jessie's hand. She jumped slightly, and then gave him an unreadable look, which he returned. James took the fact that she wasn't furious as a good sign, so he did it again, maintaining eye contact. He watched as the edge of her lip twitched upwards. Only slightly. So he stroked the side of her index finger, which caused her to form a rather amused smirk.

Jessie, being the headstrong leader of the three Rockets, took the plunge by reaching out and swiftly grabbing his hand, which caused James to almost stumble over, so he righted himself, the two smiled at each other, and then looked ahead.

Josie was staring at them, with a devious grin on her face. Oh she was so much like her mum in personality. James just nodded his head in acknowledgment of her, trying to act calm and collected, whilst Jessie raised a finely plucked eyebrow, and made a circular motion with her index finger, as though silently telling Josie to turn around and mind her own business.

The young Team Rescue member giggled, and did as her mother told her. Cilan looked round to see what had been so funny that Josie could just ignore his fascinating tale about his his hopes and dreams for the future (even though he already knew he would succeed thanks to Josie's prior knowledge), when he too saw the Rockets holding hands. He swiftly looked away, but grinned to himself.

Cilan started walking closer to Josie, in hopes that maybe if he was closer, she would listen more intently. James saw him edging closer in a not-exactly-platonic way, and frowned. He wasn't impressed. Jessie saw James' furrowed brow, and followed his line of sight. She couldn't see anything wrong with the scene, so she whispered to him, asking why he was upset.

"... James? What's wrong?"

"Do you see how close that twerp is walking to Josie?" He grumbled.

Jessie eyed the leaders of the group, then had to stifle a laugh.

"Don't you worry about a thing. She has a lot of my mannerisms, and I can tell by that stance and slight slouch of the shoulders that she's beyond bored with whatever he's talking about. Don't you recognise that look from me when you are discussing your bottle cap collection?"

James looked somewhat relieved, then offended, so he squeezed Jessie's hand slightly, to which she continued grinning at him, unperturbed.

"Besides, you'll have plenty of time to fret over her in approximately... A few years?"

"Hilarious, Jess."

Jessie looked as though she was about to reply, when she was interrupted, by Pikachu no less. The creature was frantically speaking it's name, pointing to a nearby tree with its tail. Sure enough, in a hollowed out circular hole in the trunk, lay Celebi, unconscious.

Ash was about to go into his pockets and find a flying type to retrieve the injured Pokémon, when he looked over to see Josie shimmying up the tree with a monkey-like grace. All watched on in awe, except Cleo who had seen Josie climb up a tree like that before, and Jessie and James. They both looked horrified. Did that girl know what she was doing was dangerous!? She could fall and injure herself!

Jessie dropped James' hand, and started waving her arms in the air, calling to Josie, "What do you think you're doing?! Get down from there before you hurt yourself!"

James nodded frantically, "Do as she says! People who don't listen to Jess get hurt either way!"

Jessie gave him a reproachful look, but by the time she turned around to give Josie her last warning, she was already safe and sound on the ground, Celebi in her small gloved hands. Jessie just shook her head, and no member of Team Rocket had the urge to steal the invaluable Pokémon, for they were far too emotionally invested in the whole situation.

Iris approached Josie, and they had a brief discussion over what medication or berries the legendary Pokémon might need. They treated Celebi's wounds, then Iris addressed the others.

"Celebi probably isn't going to wake up until morning, so we should probably set up camp nearby." The rest of the group nod, and head towards a small clearing where they will spend the night.

Iris lights up the campfire, whilst Cilan prepares the food, and Meowth and Cleo gather some fire wood. Ash, Josie and the other two Rockets set up the four tents they have between them.

When everything has been sorted, the group sits around the campfire, eating the delicious meal provided by Cilan. As soon as the meal is finished, people start to yawn, and it is concluded that they should go to sleep. Ash and Iris head for one tent, whilst Cilan and Josie head for another. The Pokémon, such as Pikachu and Meowth, all head to one of the tents as well. Just as Cilan is about to enter the mouth of the tent, he hears someone whistle, and looks behind him. James is standing over by his tent, with Jessie already inside it. He glares at Cilan, and makes the universal symbol of 'I'm watching you' by pointing at his eyes, then at Cilan in general.

Cilan looked confused, yet genuinely afraid of the usually docile man. Yes, he was a member of Team Rocket, and yes, he steals Pokémon, but usually Jessie was the aggressive one.

In the Rocket tent, Jessie and James were lying next to each other in their respective sleeping bags. They lay in an awkward silence, neither of the two able to sleep.

"Jess?" James finally speaks up.

Jessie at first is unsure whether to pretend to be asleep or not, but at the last minute decides to answer, "...Yeah James?"

"Do you like me?"

Jessie is taken aback by his bluntness, as James usually beats around the bush, so she answers truthfully, "I think so."

"Good. Uh... Yeah I like you too."

"Good. Glad we cleared that up. Night James."

Jessie is only slightly surprised when he puts his arm around her, and they fall asleep in one another's arms.

The next morning dawned swiftly. Too swiftly for Jessie. She was the last person up, and she barely got any breakfast, thanks to a hungry scruffy haired twerp. Yet there was one thing she was looking forward to and dreading at the same time. Josie was going to go back to her own time.

After spending just less than a day with Josie, she could safely say that she could definitely wait a few years for kids. Especially seeing as her and James literally just admitted their feelings for each other. Maybe she could wait ten years. Or twenty. Perhaps now she was being ridiculous. But regardless, she was going to miss the little... Twerp.

Josie was saying her goodbyes to everyone, and they all seemed sad for her to leave. Especially Cilan for some unbeknownst reason.

She allowed Cleo to say goodbye to Meowth, before returning her to her Pokéball.

She left her parents for last, approaching the with a shy smile.

"So I guess I'll see you soon... Please don't be mad at me when I get back."

"Now that I can't guarantee. You know what I'm like." Jessie informed her, with a smirk.

"Aw come on mum, this was a set moment in time. I am the reason you two get together now, and in the future I bring you closer than ever. It's not really my fault."

"Hmm perhaps."

"And Josie please don't be a mischievous kid. I don't want my hair going grey before my time!"

Josie laughed, "I'll try my best dad."

She hugged them both, then backed away and picked up Celebi from her perch on a low branch.

"Celebi, will you take me home?"

The small green sprout-like Pokémon started to glow and said, "Bii bii!" And it took Josie home, just as it had promised.

_Please rate and review! I want to know if you guys want a shorter oneshot on what happens when she gets back! Or maybe what happens with the Rockets after she leaves!_

_.:Scarecrow'sCrow:._


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